Figuring out what the BCS can’t

Merry Christmas, die-hard college football fans! The perfect storm we've all been longing for to show once and for all how moronic this thing called the Bowl Championship Series is has finally happened. On the last night of the craziest college football season anyone can remember, the two top-ranked teams in the country (No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia) lost and threw the BCS into absolute chaos. How sweet it is!

Previously third-ranked Ohio State is likely to be a beneficiary of last night's results. The Big 10 champs, who have not played since beating archrival Michigan two weeks ago, will likely be No. 1 when the BCS standings and bowl match-ups are announced tonight. The question is who will they play in the BCS Championship game in New Orleans on Jan. 8. If the rankings going into the weekend are any indication, it should be my alma mater. Georgia was ranked fourth in last week's BCS standings. So if the No. 3 Buckeyes move up to No. 1, the No. 4 Bulldogs should move up to No. 2, right? To borrow from Lee Corso: Not so fast, my friend.

Here's the argument against Georgia: The Dawgs have lost two games, as have other contendersm including LSU, Virginia Tech, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia and Arizona State. But LSU, Virginia Tech, Southern Cal, Oklahoma and West Virginia all won their conference champsionships. Georgia did not even play for the SEC crown Saturday. Instead, LSU beat Tennessee for the title, a team that throttled Georgia 35-14 way back in October. That loss left Georgia (after a lackluster 16-12 loss at home to South Carolina in week two) 4-2 with two conferences losses and staring straight into the eyes of a rebuilding season with a lot of young talent. But after struggling to win at Vanderbilt the next week, the Bulldogs took a week off before stomping Florida in Jacksonville en route to a six-game winning streak to end the season and a share of the SEC East with Tennessee. The Vols played in Atlanta last night because of the head-to-head tie-breaker against Georgia. But is there anyone who really thinks the Vols could hang with Georgia now? I mean, Tennessee lost to Alabama by 24. The Vols beat Vandy by a narrower margin than Georgia did. And they had to eek out a couple of overtime games with South Carolina and Kentucky. My point is that you can make a pretty strong argument that if Georgia played last night against LSU, the Dogs may have won and there'd be no controversy right now. Of course if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.

So where does all this lead us? Well, to a play-off system, of course. And I'm here to tell you how it would work and who would play if it were in place this year.

First of all, let's discuss the structure. We'll let the BCS save some face and keep the name Bowl Championship Series. But this version of the BCS will actually use a series of bowl games to decide a champion. Good idea, huh? This new BCS will feature 12 teams in a playoff with the four top-ranked teams getting first-round byes. That means we'll need four games in the first round, four in the second, two in the third and the BCS National Championship game to cap it off. Just like now, the title game will rotate between the locations of the Rose (Pasadena, CA), Fiesta (Glendale, AZ), Sugar (New Orleans) and Orange (Miami) Bowls. So we'll need to add six bowl games to the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange to make this work. At this point, we'd like to welcome in the Cotton, CapitalOne, Outback, Chick-Fil-A, Alamo and Holiday (San Diego is lovely this time of year) Bowls to the BCS.

Round 1
Again, the top four seeds will get first round byes. That leaves these match-ups: No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs No. 9. Can't you just smell the upsets? Anyway… those four first-round games will be played the Saturday closest to Christmas (So this year, they would be played Dec. 22) in Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl), Atlanta (Chick-Fil-A Bowl), San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl) and San Diego (Holiday Bowl). Each year, the match-ups would rotate through those bowls just as the BCS rotates through the big four right now. Or they could be filled based on regional interest.

Round 2 (Quaterfinals)
The well-rested top four teams are back in the mix for these games played on New Year's Day. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas and the CapitalOne in Orlando will always be in this round. The other two games will be hosted by the bowl that hosted the BCS Championship Game the previous year and that will host the current season's title game. So for this year, the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls would be second-round hosts. We'll let those two of the big four rotate hosting the match-up between No. 1 vs. the 8/9 winner and No. 2 vs. the 7/10 winner. The Cotton and CapitalOne will share No. 3 vs. 6/11 and No. 4 vs. 5/12.

Round 3 (Football's Final Four)
The national semifinal will be played a couple Saturdays after New Year's (this season it would be Jan. 12) in the two remaining of the big four bowls. This year it would be the Rose and the Orange.

BCS Championship Game
As already set, the championship would rotate among the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls. This year it's set for New Orleans. Play it two weeks after the Final Four (Jan. 26), which happens to be the weekend between the NFL's conference championships and the Super Bowl. How great would that be?

OK. So that's how it will play out. But who will be in it? Well, we'll keep some of the current BCS standards. The champions of the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC get automatic bids. For those of you who think it's not fair: Tough! Those six conferences represent nearly half of the Football Bowl Subdivision (aka Div. 1-A), and the bulk of the power base. That's not gonna change. Accept it and move on. Just like now, a team from a non-BCS conference that finishes in the top 12 of the final BCS rankings gets a bid. By the way, there will be no special status for Notre Dame as there is now. Face it, these are not your father's Fightin' Irish. Notre Dame is a program that needs a lot of work, and not just because of a 3-9 season this year. Since the 1993 season, Notre Dame has won as many bowl games as Duke.

Barring a conference champion finishing out of the top 12, as the ACC and Big East have done in the past, the top 12 should be in and the arguing over. But if one of those champs does finish lower, the selection committe (yes, just like basketball) will have some decisions to make. Once the committee has 12 teams, it will have to seed them. For this they'll use criteria similar to the basketball selections, including things like strength of schedule, quality wins and late-season performance. This will help filter out raw record as the biggest factor. Also, we'll get rid of perhaps the stupidest rule from the current BCS that limits the number of teams from one conference. Florida will likely be kept out of this year's BCS because LSU and Georgia will be in. But don't you think they deserve it more than say a team like Illinois, which could sneak in thanks to Ohio State going to the title game?

So let's seed the teams this year:

1. Southern Cal: The Trojans are one of the two hottest teams in the country along with Georgia. And while a loss to Stanford is embarrassing, a close loss to then No. 5 Oregon (now out of the BCS picture after star QB Dennis Dixon hurt his knee) is not. And the men of Troy have played lights out ever since. Throw in a conference title in the ever-improving Pac-10. Face it, no one wants to play Southern Cal right now.

2. Oklahoma: Only a late-season loss to Texas Tech keeps Oklahoma from being the top seed. And really, after annihilating then-No. 1 Missouri last night in the Big 12 title game, you could make a case for the Sooners to be ranked first. In a play-off, No. 2 is just as good. Oklahoma's non-conference schedule (blow-out wins over North Texas, Miami and Utah State) don't help its cause. But we'll give the Big 12 champs a thumbs up for a 62-21 thrashing of Conference USA runner-up Tulsa in week four.

3. Georgia: You might say I'm partial, and to some degree I am. But with the exception of undefeated Hawaii, the Bulldogs have gone longer without losing than any of the other teams in my BCS. And they did it in what is without a doubt the toughest conference in America. LSU may be the SEC Champions, but I'll bet the Tigers are glad Georgia wasn't on the regular season schedule and narrowly missed out on a title-game clash. The Dogs also ended the season by ripping up a Georgia Tech defense that was one of the best in the country. That out-of-conference win combined with wins over Oklahoma State of the Big 12 and Sun Belt co-champ Troy boost Georgia's rating.

4. LSU: Two triple-overtime losses (to Kentucky and Arkansas) stand between the Bayou Bengals and a perfect season. But losing late to the Razorbacks and only having to beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship hurt. Again, like Southern Cal and Oklahoma at 1 and 2, you could flip-flop Georgia and LSU without much argument. Have a problem with two teams from the same conference, including the non-champ, this high? How many times have Duke and North Carolina both been top seeds in March? Same thing here.

5. Ohio State: The Buckeyes have the best record of any BCS conference team. But they did it in the Big 10. And that does not earn you a first-round bye in this tournament. Face it, the Big 10 is terrible. In fact, I have no doubt that at least half of the SEC would beat Ohio State, and a few more teams would have a decent chance. Ohio State won a better Big 10 last year. And look how well the Bucks did against Florida in the BCS Championship Game. Only that big team best record gets them this high this time around.

6. Virginia Tech: The Hokies made up for their only conference loss (a 14-10 loss to then-No. 2 Boston College in October) by whipping the Eagles in yesterday's ACC Championship game. But it's still the ACC. Conference division wins against Duke, UNC and Miami don't impress. Nor does the non-conference schedule, including wins over East Carolina, Ohio and I-AA William & Mary. Beamer's boys' only other loss was a 48-7 thrashing in week two at LSU.

7. West Virginia: The Mountaineers are perhaps the most potent offense in all of college football. But from top to bottom, the Big East might be slightly less impressive than the Southern Conference (at least it has a win against a top 5 non-conference opponent — Appalachian State over Michigan). Had the Mountaineers won last night, they'd be No. 1. No questions asked. But their loss to woeful Pittsburgh proved what we already knew: Morgantown is a one-horse town, and that horse's name is Pat White. His thumb injury in the second quarter ended WVU's title hopes. They would continue in a play-off.

8. Missouri: If only the Tigers didn't have to play Oklahoma this year. But they did. Twice. And that's why Mizzu is 11-2. Still, Chase Daniels in the real deal.

9. Kansas: Missouri and Kansas? We must be talking basketball, right? Nope. The Jayhawks had their greatest season ever this year marred only by a season-ending loss to archrival Missouri. A rematch in the 8/9 game in the opening round would be outstanding.

10. Florida: The Gators have three losses (LSU, Georgia and Auburn), but they are still a formidable foe. Their non-conference schedule doesn't look like much on the surface, but they easily handled Florida State and Sun Belt co-champs Troy and Florida Atlantic. But perhaps Jeremy Foley could find a tougher match-up then a Western Kentucky club playing in its first year in I-A to round out the schedule in the future. Still, few teams will want to play Florida and potential Heisman-winner Tim Tebow. His exciting play is perhaps enough to get Florida in just for the TV ratings he'll generate. Oh, and they're the defending champs, too.

11. Arizona State: The Sun Devils share the Pac-10 title with Southern Cal. But the Trojans get the automatic big after beating up Arizona State a few weeks ago. The Devils other loss was to then-No. 5 Oregon. They are backing in a bit with those two late-season losses and a narrow win over Arizona yesterday. But they've been a tough team all year long and deserve it more than ACC runner-up Boston College.

12. Hawaii: By rule, the WAC champs are in if they finish in the top 12. But the only undefeated team in the country should be in anyway. Colt Brennan is an exciting player to watch, and the Warriors' offense will likely challenge any of the other 11 defenses in the BCS. Plus, the 5/12 matchup in the NCAA basketball tournament typically produces an upset. Electrifying Hawaii vs. vanilla Ohio State?

So to sum up, let's look at the match-ups in the first couple of rounds:

8. Missouri vs. 9. Kansas (winner plays 1. Southern Cal)

7. West Virginia vs. 10. Florida (winner plays 2. Oklahoma)

6. Virginia Tech vs. 11. Arizona State (winner plays 3. Georgia)

5. Ohio State vs. 12. Hawaii (winner plays 4. LSU)

Tell me you wouldn't want to watch those match-ups? It would be a dream come true. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than a dream right now.